Alfred Elton Van Vogt Boeken

De jonge Lesbee zag Ganarette kijken naar de klok op het instrumentenpaneel. 'Ik heb je iets te zeggen, John,' zei hij. 'En het lijkt me het beste om dat nu te doen. Vijf minuten na het begin van de film neemt mijn groep de leiding van dit schip over. Het is onze bedoeling jou het commando te geven - maar alleen onder voorwaarde dat je je bereid verklaart terug te keren naar de aarde. Wij willen de oude knarren geen kwaad doen - als ze zich behoorlijk gedragen. Wat jou betreft - als je probeert iemand te waarschuwen, zullen we ons plan om jou kapitein te maken, opnieuw moeten bezien ...' Het aardse ruimteschip Hope of Man, al meer dan twintig jaar onderweg, heeft nog negen jaar voor de boeg voordat het Centaurus bereikt. Velen aan boord vinden het nu welletjes, maar voor de oude kapitein Lesbee is er al lang geen terug meer als de rebellen zich tegen hem keren ..

With the publication, in the July 1941 issue of Astounding Science Fiction magazine, of the story Seesaw, van Vogt began unfolding the complex tale of the oppressive Empire of Isher and the mysterious Weapon Shops. This volume, The Weapon Shops of Isher, includes the first three parts of the saga and introduces perhaps the most famous political slogan of science fiction: The Right to Buy Weapons is the Right to Be Free. Born at the height of Nazi conquest, the Isher stories suggested that an oppressive government could never completely subjugate its own citizens if they were well armed. The audience appeal was immediate and has endured long beyond other stories of alien invasion, global conflict and post war nuclear angst.

Comprising:The Human Zero by Erle Stanley Gardner;The Man Who Ploughed The Sea by Arthur C. Clarke;The Proxy Head by Robert Bloch;Hands Across Space by Chad Oliver;Itself! by A.E. van Vogt;The Imaginary by Isaac Asimov;The Cosmic Relief by Eric Frank Russell;I, Rocket by Ray Bradbury.

Welcome home, Space Commander Lane. We know you've had a difficult time this past year evading those enigmatic, hostile aliens you encountered out there in the unmapped spaces between the stars. But you've also been gone a total of 10 yrs.-- and things have changed back here on earth. Take spaceport now—it's a special city with peculiar problems all its own. So we kids had to organize and take care of each other—because our dads have been gone too long, and they'll be just as surprised as you when they return. You see, we have the power now. Cover art by Bruce Pennington.

1 De katooohhh (The cataaaaa,Fantasy Book 1947) p7 2 Niet de eerste keer (Not the first, Astounding SF 1941) p24 3 Niet alleen doden (Not only dead men Astounding SF 1942) p41 4 De machthebbers (The rulers, Astounding SF 1944) p65 5 Executie bij testament (Heir (un)apparent, Astounding SF 1945) p87 6 Laatste bevel (Final command, Astounding SF 1949) p112 7 Moordenaars van de Aarde (The Earth killers, Super Science Stories 1949) 137 8 Schip van duisternis (Skip of darkness, Fantasy Book 1947) p172 9 Ditzelf! (ltself!, Gamma 1963) p192 10 Opgegeven (The expendables Worlds of IF 1963) p196 11 De namakers (The replicators Worlds of IF 1965) p232 12 De klok (The timed clock, The book of Van Vogt 1972) p258 13 Eeuwig ersatz (Ersatz eternal, The book of Van Vogt 1972) p271 14 De ultramens (The ultra man, Worlds of tomorrow 1966) p276

Following the success of the stories that formed The Weapon Shops of Isher, van Vogt wrote the novel, The Weapon Makers, in 1943, to enlarge the story of human immortality, the conflict between a controlling government, The House of Isher, the mysterious Weapon Shops and man's place in the universe. The promise of the Weapon Shops' slogan, The Right to Buy Weapons is the Right to Be Free, is described thus: "Many of these weapons still carried the old names. “Guns” they were called, or “revolvers,” or “rifles,” but there the resemblance ended. These “guns” did not shoot bullets, they discharged energy in many forms and quantities. Some of them could kill or destroy at a thousand miles if necessary, and yet they were controlled by the same sensitive elements as the Weapon Shop door. Just as the door refused to open for police officers, Imperial soldiers or people unfriendly to the Shops, so these guns had been set to fire only in self-defense, and against certain animals during open season. They also had other special qualities, particularly as to defense and speed of operation."

A space vehicle from Earth's distant future is trapped in the l8th Century, lands in the Caribbean Sea, and its crew boards the pirate ship Orinda. The unwitting pirate, Captain Fletcher, must cope with the uncanny problems posed by time-displacement, an alien "cabin boy;' captives sentenced towalk the plank who drown but do not die, and an ominous battleship that has sneaked in from a different point in the galaxy. How the "cabin boy" struggles to restore his ship, fight off the enemy battleship, and prevent Earth's history from being irrevocably changed, makes for a wonderful adventure that blends futuristic time-travel with the swashbuckling excitement of l8th-Century pirates.